Today we have taken a step in the direction of recycling in Memphis.  Some of our makers went out and collected up scrap pipe from a deconstruction zone downtown.  After the heavy goods were relocated it was time to condense our load into much smaller, more manageable pieces.  Time for Daniel to use one of his toys, and for him to attempt setting the daisies that line our drive way on fire! Check out Flickr for more photos.

An hour and a half later and 3 metal cutting discs down, we had a pile of pipes in manageable pieces.  The discs themselves only cost about $3 for all, so I think we snagged a pretty good deal.  Also, I think Daniel had fun causing all of the mayhem, I can’t think of many things that he likes better than tearing something apart, it is a pretty good stress reliever.  As you can see from the pictures, some of the pipes were pretty massive. The largest one took down 2 discs on its way out.  Thankfully it was the last pipe that Daniel clashed with.

Midsouth Makers-1: Monster pipe-0

For those of our members who are interested in helping in the Arduino community you now have a chance! It is very simple, you don’t even have to do anything heavy duty. The Arduino Designers are looking to make the next model, Arduino 1.0, and they need to collect information. If you own an Arduino, or have used one, then you can go to the Arduino website and fill out this survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ArduinoUsage) they have put up. They are looking to use this information collected to assist in the development of the next model. It is very short, only takes a few minutes to do, and it could be Memphis’ way of helping out with such a great community. So take a few seconds, hop on over to the website and answer those questions!

Fellow Members, Builders, Tinkerers, Creators, and Makers,

Today, four of the board members met with a real estate agent, Bud Worsham, to scope out a potential space. We wanted to give Bud an idea of what we were about and what kind of space we were interested in. He showed us a small 1800 square foot warehouse at 132 Cumberland St. pictured is the inside of it. This did a couple of things for us. It gave us the feel of what we might be able to obtain as a group, a little better understanding of the interactions needed to obtain such a space, and an idea of cost that we could expect. The cost is slightly daunting at first, but is certainly not out of reach if we can all pull together to accomplish what we want.

At first glance it seems that everyone is very interested in the idea of having a space to work on projects and various other events. The catch is that everyone seems very interested, but lacks the interest to assist in the formation of a location of our own. This puts us in a very strange position. We need members to have funds, we need funds to have a space, and we need a space to have members. It becomes cyclical very quickly, and if we are unable to break that cycle, we will stagnate equally as fast. All of this means that we simply cannot do anything without biting the bullet, pulling together, and building our funds before we have a space.

With that being said, everything that we have asked for thus far in the way of dues is not mandatory. Since it is very obvious that we do not have a space to provide in turn for a fee, we are unable to set any sort of dues that could even remotely be considered mandatory. In fact, we never have, and never will set any type of mandatory payments so long as a space is not provided. It is best to instead consider this a pledge or donation to the group for a means to accomplish the goal that we have all expressed interest in, and of course If you need a good conveyancing service then my conveyancing specialist will be able to help. So currently we ask that anyone who wishes to assist us in moving forward, make a donation to the group. If it is a monthly pledge, fantastic. If it is a one time thing that you can do, wonderful. Every little bit helps, and we can’t make any of this possible without the help that you can provide.

Hi folks!  Midsouth Makers will be promoting the group at Midsouthcon today, tomorrow and Sunday.  If you can stop by please do, and bring any projects to show off or work on there.  Daniel H, Mike D and I (Jim H) will be at the “Fan Table” area to hand out literature, show off projects and spread the Maker word.

MidsouthCon is being held at Whispering Woods Conference Center in Olive Branch, MS the 12th through the 14th of March.  There is a fee to get in the door, so be prepared to spend money.

Pictures have been uploaded from the March 5th Meeting. We had a great time and met some new friends from the local 2600 group. We had a few different projects shown off at this meeting including how to modify a cheap ink pen to write like an expensive writing instrument, Jim’s Arduino kit, Daniel’s scarf prototype and a handmade bracelet. We love hearing about any DIY projects or craft projects! Feel free to send us information about your project and we’ll feature it here on the Hackerspace Blog.

Don’t forget that you can keep up with the makers group by following us on twitter, becoming a fan on facebook, or even joining our Google Groups mailing list!

This weekend Daniel and Jim will be at our fan table at MidsouthCon! If you’re going to the con stop by and say hello. We’re having our usual meeting this friday March 12th at Republic Coffee, we hope to see you there. Feel free to bring a friend or a project!